“I love you” means either he genuinely loves and cares for this girl, or is just saying so to get something in return. He soothes her fear of the latter by explaining that she comes first – true love.

Also note the numerical wordplay with “one thing”, “two meanings”, “three words”, “for (four) you”

This is an reinterpretation of a line from the novel and film Where The Wild Things Are.

Said Joe Newman in an interview:

The song is about liking someone who you want so much that you want to hurt yourself and them, as well. We related that idea to Where the Wild Things Are, which we all grew up reading, where in the end the beasts say “Oh, please don’t go! We’ll eat you whole! We love you so!,” that they would threaten cannibalism to have that person—it’s a powerful image. Our video for this track has a really different message, and yet it worked really well with the song. It’s quite a weird one; people aren’t sure what’s going on. We liked that you might have to go back and watch it a second time to figure out what is happening.

When she feels down or depressed, he is more than willing to protect and comfort her. The storm represents her sad emotions that Ed doesn’t want her to feel.

Note the the imagery he uses to connect to the broken Lego House metaphor with mend and shelter.

In an interview, Ed explained:

“Lego House” is about a break-up and it was me using the metaphor of Lego. You spend so long putting Lego together and if you drop it on the floor, within an instant it’s broken, and it takes a while to put it back together. I kind of see a relationship like that. It takes so long to build… and it can break apart in an instant.

He uses this metaphor to describe the fragility of a relationship, but also his willingness to restart from the beginning if things go poorly – also alluding to the common saying “home is where the heart is”

Alluding to Ice Cube’s “Check Yo Self”, Kendrick warns that calling attention to yourself by waving gang signs is a good way to get yourself hurt.

The outro from Game’s song “The City,” which features Kendrick, touches on this idea:

Needless to say, please dress accordingly while visiting the Los Angeles area. Also, tuck your jewelry, and keep your hands inside your vehicle. Thank You! Enjoy it!

In the spirit of the proverb “nothing is certain but death and taxes,” Kendrick denounces the state government for taxing its citizens, but not doing enough to protect many of them (i.e. inner-city residents like in Compton). Death and taxes are not a “threat,” they’re a certainty.

The only way to be exempt from taxation is to die—a tragedy that happens all too often in his hometown. Kendrick implies that these deaths, whether they’re caused “in traffic” (potentially in a car crash, car jack or drive-by shooting) or elsewhere, aren’t threats to the government, but merely add to the long list of people that can no longer be taxed.

Jerry Brown was the governor of California at the time of this song’s release. His predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred as Conan the Barbarian in the aforementioned film, served from 2003 to 2011.